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www.foodlogistics.com FOOD LOGISTICS • MARCH 2015 25 UPC codes for years, but the 3PL's upgrade to AFS Technologies' WMS platform with func- tionality and integration with GS1 standards provides single-scan traceability, says Jere Van Puffelen, president of the Stockton, Sacramento, Livermore and Hayward, Calif.-based logistics provider. This upgrade now allows customers to scan a GS1 label once, extract multiple data elements including the GS1 Global Trade Item Number (GTIN), lot and quantity. Prior to the GS1, lot codes typically had to be logged into the system manually. GS1 addresses food safety rules Van Puffelen says GS1 is especially important in light of the new food safety rules. The FSMA requires a company to have a plan to enhance tracking and tracing of food. In the meantime, Van Puffelen expects more of his customers' customers to be mandating scannable lot codes. "The whole chain of custody will become more of an issue; who has it when," he says. The fact that the GS1 is an international standard makes it all the more attractive to companies in the supply chain. While improving traceability is a driver for data standardization, it would be incorrect to say it is the main benefit. Large food indus- try players such as Dot Foods Inc., the Mt. Sterling, Ill.-based redistributor which resells products in less-than-truckload quantities to distributors nationwide, have gained significant efficiencies by introducing GS1 standards to their online product catalog. Companies utilizing GS1 standards and the GDSN (Global Data Synchronization Network) to synchronize item data throughout the sup- ply chain will benefit and reduce cost through improved warehouse management, load optimi- zation and increased productivity, says Debbie Bower, Dot Foods director of e-commerce. A key benefit of data standardization, Bower says, has been improved transparency through- out the supply chain. "With GDSN, there is one source of the truth, and everyone is using the GTIN for standard product identification," she says. "This increases efficiency throughout the supply chain." As for traceability, Bower says it would be much more difficult without GS1 standards and GTINs. "You have to be able to uniquely iden- tify the product to trace it through the supply chain," she says. "Using an advance ship notice (ASN) and the GS1-128 bar code enables the automated capture of lot information which is more accurate and efficient than manual keying. In the case of a recall having accurate product, information is critical." US Foods, the Rosemont, Ill.-based nation- wide foodservice distributor, adopted the Inter- national Featured Standards (IFS) for logistics as its food safety and quality program. "We then selected NSF International as the third party independent company to certify all our distribu- tion centers against the standard," says Jorge Hernandez, senior vice president for food safety and quality assurance at US Foods. IFS is a standard recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) as providing a "best in class control" over food safety and quality systems and the IFS-Logistics version is specific to storage and transportation by road, rail, air or ship for all types of foods and dispos- able products. "IFS- Logistics provided US Foods a uniform evaluation of our systems that not only ensures food safety and quality, but also provides trans- parency and a strong focus on customer require- ments," Hernandez says of the IFS certification. "We had a good experience with certification; it not only improved our food safety and quality metrics, our compliance with regulations, but also had a positive impact on the business per- formance of the distribution centers certified." For more information, visit odfl .com or call 1-800-432-6335. OD Global offers: • Personalized, single point of contact for status on all shipments • Pacifi c Promise ™ : service from 24 Asian ports direct to the U.S. • Direct service to or from Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Alaska and Hawaii Dot Foods Inc. has gained major efficiencies by introducing GS1 standards to its online product catalog.